[D-Space] Moving forward

[Paul Campbell]

On Mon, 06 Dec 2010, Aldo Cortesi wrote:
> Thus spake Paul Campbell (paul at taniwha.com):
> 
> > Yesterd after we looked at the space we went back to my place for
> > coffee (some guy in a red suit and a broken down sleigh was blocking
> > access to the down town cafes).
> 
> I'm sorry I couldn't make this - I was out of town over the weekend.
> Out of interest, you mentioned that they wanted 4 weeks up front as a
> deposit - is that the bond or just a holidng deposit? If it's not the
> bond, did they ask for one? Also, is the lease month-by-month or
> longer? I'm a big fan of flying light and staying flexible, so I'd
> argue that we should try to keep lease commitments as short as possible
> (month-by-month if we can).

it's a bond - think of it as the last 4 weeks when we quit - it also serves as a 
holding deposit ('earnest money') to reserve the space - we'd start paying the 
weekly amount when we move in and we can reserve for up to a month (so move in 
~10th Jan) - there is an assumption we'd be signing up for at least a year - my 
guess is that they have a lot of people who don't make it that far and that's 
what the 4 weeks really is for - it means we have to give 4 weeks notice - I 
can't imagine we'll grow out of that space in a year, the real danger is not 
growing enough to support the rent.

We talked about this a bit yesterday - we'll have to start hitting people up for 
money (dues and donations) in Jan but not really have anything to show for it 
for a couple of months - we probably want to be looking towards doing some sort 
of PR blitz in March once we have enough of a story to tell - something to show 
the newspapers (picture of school kid showing the thing he/she made)

> I'd like to know a bit more about what the ongoing accounting burden of
> a charitable trust would be. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'd be
> looking at about $1500 a year unless one of us has the time and
> expertise to shoulder the accounting burden. That said, my gut instinct
> might be biased due to 10 years of pain getting shafted by the
> complexity and expense of the Australian tax system where this could
> easily cost $10k per year - New Zealand may be different. If the cost
> turns out to be significant, we should see if there's a way to keep
> things less formal until we know the momentum is there. Either way, I'd
> be happy to front up for a meeting with my accountant to get a feel for
> what would be involved? 

thanks that would be great - I hadn't thought about ongoing accounting costs - 
it's probably a wash between an incorporated society and a charitable trust 
(both have to file with the companies office or the charities commission) - 
they'd probably be able help walk us through the IRD charitable status though. 
Maybe they have special rates for charities if we hold to some accounting 
standard

Like you I run a small business and do a lot of this stuff day to day, I've been 
treasurer for a similar sort of group before (bigger than this, with a $20k/yr 
cash flow - I can tell stories about driving around the desert with $10k in 
small bills wondering if I ought to have a gun in case I was robbed) - I'm a big 
fan of a simple double entry spreadsheet and of booking future expenses when we 
know we have to pay (before we actually pay them) so we can forward manage cash 
flow - I'd imagine we'd also simply publish the spreadsheet on the wiki every 
month for everyone to see

	Paul